Ride a Black Swan
I found myself driving around the city aimlessly and without purpose last night looking for something to do after I left Tracy’s Saloon just before midnight. It had been a great night so far. John Gwinn, crazed and delirious from cold sweats, two painfully sleepless nights, and a gallon of over the counter medicines had had a vision that he wouldn’t live one day past 73 and thus, as Monday was his 36 and a half birthday, his midpoint in life, he had decided to call a half-time. A time out. We all gathered to asses the situation over our favorite brands of Whiskey. After a few hours of hemming and hawing, talk of creole baseball leagues, and random lesbian climax positions, we all came to the consensus that The State of John Gwinn was strong and that his second term would be chiseled in granite.

When the party finally broke up, and the glasses were turned over on the table, I got in my motor and header for home. But with my baby dealing with family matters in Alabama this week and with no one to come home to, I found myself instead roaming around the city streets.

After driving around for awhile, I ended up where I end up most nights when I have these wicked bouts of displacement. The Record Store. Thank god for the record store that stays open till midnight. You are second on my list only to the bars that stay open later than 1PM. You are my lighthouse in troubled waters — ye’ ol’ merchant of shiny plastic circles and 180 gram vinyl.

I hadn’t anything in mind when I hit the racks last night. I was just killing time. I had no plans of purchasing anything really. It would have sufficed just to walk around and lazily finger the used CD’s that were returned on Friday of last week. I would have been content to just stare off at the Dub section or wonder at the seemingly inharmonious but beautifully crafted ‘picks’ the employees had organized on their own. Jeane recommends the new Underworld CD and some German band I’ve never heard of. Man, I bet there is a great story behind everyone of those picks. Employees give little micro reviews of all the CD’s that they recommend. When I read them, I wish instead they would write short stories about hearing the record for the first time or tell me which track on the album makes them throw furniture and which one leaves them loving wicker baskets – gaining a deeper appreciation for the craft of the thing.

I was thinking these thoughts about furniture, good songs and such when a little voice from the achieves of my gray matter punched past the Whiskey and softly whispered…Zwan. Oh yes I remembered, I wanted to get the debut Zwan record. I have a love for David Pajo’s music that is so pure that I understand anything he touches is a genuine piece of joy. You see, David was in a band called Slint. And for me, when the hour is witching and creeping on midnight, Slint is the only thing – only thing, that will do. I have learned slowly over the years that as much as I stare and chant at the little black ‘Slint’ card at the Record Store, a new record will never appears under it. It just wont. Which is ok, because David has gone on to make some other incredible music and in some cases a lot better music. The stuff he records under the moniker Papa M is the fuel that I use to power to my train.

So yeah, David. New Band. Zwan. Zwan, is also Billy from Smashing Pumpkins new band. The title of the Zwan CD is ‘Mary Star of the Sea’, which is named and dedicated to Mary Hansen of Stereolab who sadly is no longer with us. I went looking for the disc and after having rotten luck I bothered one of the bored employees, who casually mentioned that the record didn’t come out till midnight – which was a whole ten minutes away. The forces at work here were operating at such a high level that I didn’t even bother to think about it. I just accepted my fate and hung around till midnight when, along with about 6 other diehard 13 year olds we all marched up to the checkout at twelve-o-one with our CD/DVD enhanced Zwan discs and handed over all we had for what could be…

…so of course I like the disc. How could I not after all that. In fact, I stayed up the rest of the night and listened to it twice. Once on the hi-fi and once on headphones. I also watched the DVD and thought for a long time what my life would be like if I was a member of Zwan. In the DVD the band gets philosophical about the meaning of Zwan, and the different incarnations of Zwan. So I sat and thought a lot about that too. I told myself it’s good to still feel Zwan. Without Zwan it would be far less fun. Let us all Zwan and sleep well tonight. Adieu.